


Favours

by anawitch



Series: Gauntlets and Greaves [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Hate Sex, Porn With Plot, Rough Sex, Strangulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-14 16:47:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5750698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anawitch/pseuds/anawitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She would happily have sat at the other end of the camp had it been any warmer, but it was night, and she needed the fire too. So she sat behind it, and tried not to look at him. Maybe he wouldn’t be an insufferable shit. Maybe they could just sit in uncomfortable silence until dawn, when the rest of the team would return.</p><p>“So did you tell your team we fucked, or is that still our little secret?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was just meant to be porn. Now I want to write more and to do that I have to add a few explanations. Sorry to anybody who read this in its former format!!

On his knees with a shotgun gauntlet pressed to the back of his head and so completely out of energy that he couldn’t even entertain the idea of moving out the way: he’d been in worse positions, but not by much. There were a couple of witty one-liners on the tip of his tongue, but none of them tasted right. He was defeated.

If he had been asked a few weeks ago if Yang would ever kill somebody, he would have laughed. Nobody in team RWBY would have the guts, he would have thought. That was before he framed her in front of the entire planet and fought with her sister while her best friend was murdered. Now, he could be pretty certain of exactly the opposite: Yang was going to kill him. And what a time for it.

Grimm roamed free, hunters lay bloodied and stationary, and Beacon crumbled all around them. The plan sure had worked. Perhaps not exactly how he had expected. He had hoped Cinder wouldn’t leave him and Emerald at the mercy of their ‘peers’, for one, but she had, almost immediately after they helped her get those damn Maiden powers. Yeah. He kind of hoped he would have been on one of those stolen airships travelling to safety alongside her.

“Yang!”

He lifted his head to locate the source of the noise – Ruby, of course – but the person trailing behind her was a surprise. Emerald hadn’t had quite such a bad time as him in her battle, he saw. How the hell was that fair?

“Yang, stop. Don’t.”

“Don’t _what_?” 

Mercury couldn’t see behind him, but he knew Yang’s eyes would still be as red as they were when she threw the first punch. He knew her hair was glowing gold, and he knew she could calm down if she wanted to, but she didn’t.

“You can’t kill him!” 

Well, that was interesting.

\--


	2. Chapter 2

“We can’t leave him here alone!”

“What, you still don’t trust me?”

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Mercury and bristled on her tip-toes nowhere near head height with their former enemy, just one breath away from launching into a rambling tirade presumably listing the many reasons why they would be very _right_ not to trust him. On any other day Yang would quite have enjoyed the sight of her tiny teammate verbally taking the asshole down, but they were under time constraints, and she knew she needed to intervene before they ended up staying at the camp until daybreak.

“You guys go. I’ll keep an eye on him,” she said. 

Mercury cocked an eyebrow and said nothing, but she could see the smirk threatening to twist at his lips even if nobody else could; Emerald was equally as surprised, but whatever she knew she kept close to her chest. With a deep breath Weiss seemed to deflate. She returned to her heels and folded her arms tightly across her chest, then turned to Ruby for confirmation.

"Are you sure?" 

There was some doubt in her voice, and she couldn't really blame her. It wasn't all that long ago that Yang had been ready to blow Mercury's brains into the concrete. But she knew how important it was for him and Emerald to be part of the group, at least until Cinder was dead. She wasn't going to do anything stupid. She gave a short nod and shrugged her shoulders. 

“Well… I guess if Mercury tries anything, Yang would be the best one to stop him. We should be okay without her… her fighting style isn’t really suited to sneaking anyway…” Ruby thought aloud. She didn’t sound entirely sure, however, and were it not for their situation Yang would never have suggested they go on without her. 

Emerald and Mercury knew where Cinder kept her list of potential Maidens, and she had no idea. There was a notebook, unhackable and unremarkable, somewhere within a White Fang base not far away, in a cave deep within the forest. If it was true, it was the biggest and only lead they could get on her activities now that the entire world had been thrown into chaos. 

The issue was there was no way they could take both of them to get it. It was too risky. Emerald without her cuffs was a danger enough, but - painful though it was to admit it - she was right that they _needed_ her distraction abilities if they ever wanted to find it. She could control the minds of any of the guards to look the other way, and that would be infinitely valuable when full frontal combat wasn't really an option. And if it was just a plan to deliver them to the enemy and to get back on Cinder's good side... well, separated, Emerald and Mercury would be easier to handle. 

They really needed those names. There wasn't really much choice. She just wished Mercury didn’t seem so smug about it. She wished she didn't know what he was thinking. It was making it very hard not to punch him.

It took only a few minutes for Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Emerald to be ready to leave, and it was difficult not to feel nervous knowing they would be putting themselves in serious danger. But above everything Yang trusted her sister, and she knew they would come back safely even if she herself wasn’t there to help. After giving her teammates a group hug, she waved them off and watched until they were swallowed by the thick autumn leaves.

Now she had to deal with him.

Lounging in front of the fire as best he could with his arms cuffed behind his back sat Mercury, watching the flames idly in the new silence. Those cuffs were special; made specifically to supress aura, to keep dangerous criminals at bay. And he certainly was a dangerous criminal. An assassin. One responsible for several deaths in Vale. That didn’t even skim the surface of his crimes, though, or what he had done to Yang and her friends. To her sister…

It was the first time she'd been alone with him since they had left Beacon. She would happily have sat at the other end of the camp had it been any warmer, but it was night, and she needed the fire too. So she sat behind it, and tried not to look at him. Maybe he wouldn’t be an insufferable shit. Maybe they could just sit in uncomfortable silence until dawn, when the rest of the team would return.

“So did you tell your team we fucked, or is that still our little secret?”

Yang launched herself into him, punching him in the face with all her strength. She swore she could feel his jaw indent with the force of it, and without his aura activated the mark it left was red and purple and angry. She punched him again on the other side; his nose bent dangerously and spewed with blood that splattered onto her jacket and down to his chin. She pulled her fist back for a third, but Mercury fell backwards, unable to balance with his arms behind his back, and hit the floor. He groaned not unlike he had in the supply closet, and looked so pathetic that Yang managed to hold back.

“Feeling better?” he asked eventually, spitting blood out to his side. 

“Not really,” she admitted. They had been travelling together for two months. It was hard to keep the same level of rage all that time. Now rather than despising him, Mercury was just a constant annoyance, like an insistently buzzing fly. One that she may have had a bit of a thing for, once. Once. 

“That second one was for what you did to Ruby.”

“That one hurt more,” he said, conversationally.

“Yeah.”

She sat down on the fallen log they had based their camp around and looked into the fire contemplatively. It took a minute for Mercury to pull himself back up. The blood under his nose was flowing freely, and he looked a mess: _still hot, though_ , a traitorous voice in the back of Yang’s head said. She frowned.

“We could do it again,” said Mercury, steadily casual, as if suggesting going for a walk. She didn’t even punch him. She just rolled her eyes. 

“Just stop talking.”

“Emerald is good. She’s not going to let your little ‘team’ get hurt.”

“What, are you trying to comfort me now?” He shrugged his shoulders and pulled a face.

“Got to fill the silence somehow. And if we’re not going to fuck…”

“Ugh,” was all she could say. The thought of dragging him away from the fire was tantalising, but she knew after a while she would feel guilt over his shivering and end up bringing him back, and that would be a win for him. No. It would be better to just ignore him. 

That was easier said than done when she was caught between finding some way of making him understand just how big a piece of shit he was and trying not to think about how it had felt when she had his hands pinned above his head, riding him... 

One-night stands and friends with benefits were common ground for her. But she had never had sex with someone who she didn’t have to be careful with, and who wasn’t careful with her in return. That was _hot_. The fact that he seemed to actually _enjoy_ being thrown around... she could never get enough of feeling powerful. 

She nibbled on her lip.

“You’re thinking about it,” came Mercury’s voice, so close to her ear that only pure spite stopped her from jumping. He had moved closer. 

Well. He knew what she was about. If he wanted to get hurt, she was more than willing. 

Yang looked him dead in the eyes, and he curved his upper lip and showed his teeth in a look almost predatory. He used them to scrape the outer shell of her ear, and in less than a second he was back on the floor between Yang’s thighs. 

This time she didn’t even need to pin his arms down; his own back was doing just fine, and she almost smiled realising how uncomfortable it must have been for him. 

“I knew you wanted me.”

She slapped him across the face hard, and he _laughed._

“Do you want to talk, or do you want to fuck?” Yang ground her ass into his crotch and would have been surprised to feel he was half-hard already if it hadn’t been for the last time.

“Really? What is it, the slapping or the talking?” she asked. 

“What do you think?” Mercury asked in response, cocking his eyebrow. Yang pulled back her hand and ran it into his face again with a satisfying smack, and swore she felt his cock twitch even through his pants.

“Doesn’t that make assassinating people _hard_?”

“Do you want to talk, or do you want to fuck?” 

Yang allowed herself a smirk. She rose onto her knees and unzipped his pants, taking them down to his lower thigh. Briefly she considered stripping him completely and getting a good look at the mechanical legs he had used to trick her all those months ago, but there was still the concern of somebody returning early and catching them in the act. It wasn’t something she wanted to explain to her friends. He lifted his hips to offer assistance and grazed his cock against her shorts in the process, not accidentally. 

“Are you going to un-cuff me?” he asked as she pulled down her own shorts. She gave a dry laugh in response. Not fucking likely. 

“Fine,” he shrugged. “Less work for me.”

She pressed her index and middle finger to Mercury’s lips and he parted them, sucking them and coating them with spit. They made a popping sound when she pulled them out that Mercury grinned at.

She leaned forwards and rested one forearm on the ground for support; with the other she rubbed her clit, then slipped her wet fingers inside of her. 

“Shit,” Mercury groaned, realising what was happening. “Come _on._ ”

“I don’t get off on slapping you,” she lied. She made sure not to hide any of the pleasure in her voice. Mercury’s bucking hips were his impatient response. 

Yang lowered herself until her chest touched his and her thighs rested just above his cock, so that every so often he could thrust up and rub against her inner thigh. More often than not he missed, however, and hit nothing but air; she could see the frustration on his face, in how he bit his lip and fell silent, for once. Her heartbeat raced. She could feel his stomach under her hand as she fingered herself, how it indented with his held breath.

She only teased him for a minute or two. It hadn’t been her intention in the first place, but seeing his reaction made it too good a chance to give up. And she’d shut him up. It was a win-win situation. Now she was definitely wet enough, and she took his cock in her hand and slid onto it suddenly. Mercury practically choked, and she was worried she had worked him up too much, and that he would come far before she was ready.

So she took it slow. She rotated her hips and Mercury closed his eyes and dug his head into the ground. With nothing to hold onto he had no chance of setting the pace, though he tried to thrust into her harder at every chance he could. He was so _loud_ like this, not verbally, but he kept holding his breath for too long and letting it out in short, desperate moans that could be better described as _whines_. She built up the pace. She thought she had been in control back in the supply closet, but she had been wrong; _now_ she was in control, and it was intoxicating.

“You thought about the supply closet too?” she asked next to his ear. She couldn’t help it; the thought of him jerking off over it turned her on too much. He groaned and smirked against the skin of her cheek.

“Sometimes,” he admitted. “Thought about it… ah, in the tournament.”

She brought her fist down into his chest and he let out a grunting laugh as it knocked the breath out of him. He coughed and wiped his mouth on his shoulder, grin still in place.

“Tournament’s… off limits?” he asked between gasps, arching an eyebrow. 

“ _Yes_ ,” she hissed.

“Guess… _fuck_ … guess it must be weird… fucking the, ah, guy who did that to you.”

“Stop. It.” She bunched her hands in the fabric of his jacket. Rage and arousal seemed to confuse themselves and she came down harder on Mercury’s lap, taking him deeper inside of her, and she wet her lips with her tongue before pressing her lips together, determined not to give him the satisfaction of hearing her moan again. 

“You must really hate me. Except-…”

She grabbed his neck with both hands and squeezed just tightly enough to cut off his next words, but that was all it took. Mercury bucked his hips wildly once, twice, and came with a strangled yell she could feel under her palms. In her surprise she stilled until her relaxed beneath her, then blinked and furrowed her brow in frustration.

 _“Seriously?”_

Well, that was the end of that. There was no way she was going to get herself off in the campsite where he could watch; he would be much too smug about it. She slid him out of her and sat in the grass beside him to pull up his pants before he had even come down from his high. Now she felt guilty, angry, _and_ sexually frustrated. Because of _him._

Mercury pulled himself up, still panting from his orgasm. Would it have been so bad for her to just punch him in the face again? But he didn’t look as if he was about to say something stupid, this time. He looked quite serious.

“Take off one of my cuffs.”

Never mind.

“Are you-...” she began, very aware of how high pitched her voice had become in her anger.

“I still won’t be able to _do_ anything. Just do it.”

He wasn’t wrong, so she did as he said. It was probably a bad idea, but she was kind of hoping he'd make a break for it so she had a reason to _really_ beat the shit out of him. Mercury stretched his arms out with a grimace, working out the cramp that had to have ached like a bitch after having them pressed into his back all that time. 

“Ten minutes,” she said.

“Plenty of time.”

Before she realised what was happening he charged into her and forced her onto her back. _Fuck._ Yang tensed, preparing to fight back, until she suddenly understood.

His lips pressed against the hood of her clit and she gasped and tangled her fingers in his hair. She felt his teeth, surprisingly gentle in contrast to the tongue that licked at her entrance, and she ground against his face, letting out an uncensored moan. It was mostly the shock; never in a million years did she think she would have Mercury’s head between her thighs pleasuring _her_ instead of himself, but she wasn’t going to complain about whatever had come over him. She just tightened her grasp on his head with both her hands and her thighs.

Once his arms had stopped burning he slid his fingers inside of her and freed himself from her grasp, inching up her body and pressing his lips to her ear as he fingered her roughly. 

“Couldn’t do anything in my dorm room. Used to turn on the shower and jerk off in the bathroom thinking about fucking you. I was hard as soon as I knew we'd be alone together.” 

His voice was low and more serious than she had ever heard it, and it took her breath away. She was so close. He angled his thumb to rub against her clit and she grabbed his head and crashed their lips together, moaning into his mouth as she came _hard_ , so hard that her legs shook and she had to keep a hold of him until the feeling subsided.

He pulled his fingers out of her when she finally released him, and wiped them on his trouser leg. Yang opened her eyes slowly and found she could hardly even look at him. She stared up at the stars instead.

“I didn’t take you as the type to care about somebody else getting off,” she said. Her voice was still shaky. _Damn._

She might have just lay there if he hadn't picked up her shorts and thrown them at her face. She broke out of her trance to glower at him before rising to her feet and fixing herself up. 

“Consider it a peace offering,” he smirked. Still insufferable. Still infuriating. Still coated in the blood she’d punched out of him. 

Yang laughed.

\-- 

“Did… you take off Mercury’s handcuffs just to _fight_ him?”

Yang scrunched up her eyes. For a moment she could have been back in Beacon, sleeping soundly in bed. Weiss must have left the window open last night, because it was cold and she could see the sunlight glowing red behind her eyelids. She could even hear the leaves blowing in the trees. 

Suddenly she was bolt upright and squinting in the sunlight. The rest of team RWBY were back, with Emerald trailing behind. 

She forgot to put his handcuffs back on. _Idiot_. 

“Did you break his nose?” Emerald asked as she closed in enough to get a look at the damage. Her mouth twitched into a smirk. “Nice.”

“He didn't get a hit in?” Blake asked.

“Nope.”

“But you have blood on your face…”

She licked her lips and rubbed them with the back of her hand, hoping she didn’t look too guilty. 

“Splatter,” she lied quickly. God, it was too early to deal with this. Immediately she knew Blake didn’t buy it, and was even surer that _Emerald_ didn’t buy it when she made a disgusted “ugh” sound and rolled her eyes blatantly. Yang gave her a warning look, and she shrugged her shoulders. 

Ruby looked at Blake, then at Emerald, then between Yang and Mercury, like she was trying to connect the dots. Yang held her breath. 

“Did you get the book?” Mercury asked casually.

Ruby blinked.

“Oh! Show them, Weiss!” she said, bright and cheery and completely unsuspicious once more.

As they crowded around to read the unassuming notebook, Mercury caught Yang’s eye. When he was sure nobody was looking, he mouthed something at her and gave her a wink.

_“You owe me.”_

\--


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this is a new chapter to clarify a few things! I realise I was just rambling about the semi-plot I had without fully explaining it, whoops. The porn is more important, right? Yes? Good.

“I can’t believe you did it again.”

Emerald and Mercury trailed behind the main group, talking amongst themselves in low whispers. Apparently Emerald’s performance in the White Fang base and Mercury’s lack of escape attempt had earned them new privileges; sans handcuffs was definitely the way to go.

Mercury perked an eyebrow at Emerald and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. 

“Did you expect anything else from me?” he asked.

“You know why her name wasn’t on the list.” 

So maybe they hadn’t given up _all_ their information like they had promised when Ruby reluctantly agreed to let them tag along.

He looked forwards at the two sisters leading the party: Yang ruffled Ruby’s hair and she pushed her in response, with all the effectiveness of a kitten tackling a bulldog. They had been in high spirits since they returned from the base, finally having some sense of purpose again for what must have been the first time since the war broke out and their school was finished. He didn’t really care about whether they were happy or not, but anything was better than the doom and gloom they had been travelling with up until this point.

The list put them on Cinder’s trail. Every girl on there would be visited, recruited, or killed for being a potential candidate for the next Maiden. Cinder did not want to be just Fall – no, that would be far too sane. Cinder wanted to control all the Maiden’s powers. And ever since she had discovered Ironwood’s aura transferring machinery… she had a real chance.

“And?” Mercury asked, because he loved to wind Emerald up.

“Whichever one of them it is, it’s going to awaken sooner rather than later. Do you really want to have broken a Maiden’s heart? Or her sister’s?”

Summer had to have passed her power onto one of them, but there was no way of telling who. Their names weren’t on the list because they were not powerful enough, or not connected enough. They weren’t on the list because one of them was _already_ a Maiden. That’s why he and Emerald needed them. If they ever wanted to get revenge, they were their only chance.

Mercury looked at Emerald and burst into laughter. In front, Weiss slammed her foot down and turned around, glaring daggers.

“Will you two keep up?” she demanded, and Mercury showed his hands in a sarcastic gesture of surrender. 

When she turned back around, Mercury wiped a fake tear from his eye and returned to their previous whispers.

“I _really_ don’t think that’s going to be a problem. She hates my guts,” he said.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked. “I mean, other than the fact that you’re you.”

He lowered his voice even more and began to go into great detail about the previous night’s events, or at least, as much detail as he could get into before Emerald cringed and shoulder barged him into a bush. 

This time Yang walked back down the line and glared at them. She waited with her hand on her hip for Mercury to get up, and said:

“Walk up front,” serious again now she was no longer giggling with her teammates, in Huntress mode. They were still kind of their prisoners.

Mercury brushed himself off before following after Emerald, and as he passed Yang he looked her in the eye and bit his lower lip.

“Yes, Ma’am.” 

Yang rolled her eyes and shoved his back, but there was a hint of a smirk there. He had definitely been right. Travelling with them _was_ interesting.

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: works with popular fan theories to make porn more plausible


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Are you _jerking-off?_ ” she asked in a whisper so scandalised it would have made Weiss proud. 
> 
> He opened one eye and looked at her, smug. “Well, if you’re not going to help me…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not at work for a few weeks so apparently all I'm going to do is write porn? Okay.

His name was apt, because Mercury had an oddly metallic taste to him like blood, or a zipper between her teeth. She had never really had the chance to reflect on this, but now she could say for certain that she liked it, and that worried her. A lot.

What worried her more was that they were making out _without_ beating the shit out of each other first, and… it was actually nice. Granted, there was still shoving and biting and the occasional hair pulling, but for Yang it was positively slow paced. So slowly paced, in fact, that she completely lost track of time; only Weiss’s voice from somewhere deep within the ruined city brought her to her senses and caused her to pull away.

Mercury raised an eyebrow but kept his hands at either side of her head, just above her shoulders, on the crumbling wall he had pinned her to.

“They’re going to wonder where we are.” She grabbed a hold of his wrist, but it wouldn’t budge. 

“Aaand?” he drawled, tilting his head. His legs parted hers and he ducked down to her neck, but before he could do whatever was on his mind Yang punched him in the stomach and grinned as he doubled over, groaning.

“Ouch,” he said, entirely monotone.

“Aww. You can take it.” With a wink she pushed his arm away and freed herself. “Over here, guys! Mercury fell through a wall. I had to fish him out of the rubble.”

Mercury gave her a flat look as the sound of footsteps approached rapidly.

“I _could_ just tell them what really happened.”

A streak of red and white became visible in the distance, and Yang quietly murmured: “You _could_ if you never wanted to fuck me again.”

“Where have you two been!?” Weiss yelled from across the street without a pause for breath.

“Just… leant on drywall.”

The pair sprinted past them and left Yang blinking in confusion.

“Uh…” she began, before very suddenly recognising the problem for herself.

“Goliaths!”

\--

As the Goliath trumpeted above her, Yang launched herself into the air and fired her final shell into its open mouth. The creature paused in its attack, puzzled by the intrusion for only seconds before it exploded and brought the grimm to the ground in a shudder not unlike an earthquake. Blake, who had, along with Emerald, recognised the sounds of battle and found them quickly, elegantly slid down from its back and sheathed Gambol Shroud once more.

It was the last one, but Yang surged with adrenaline and found herself wishing there had been at least three more for her to test her skills on. She hadn’t fought one since Beacon had fell, and back then there had been too much going on to get the chance to enjoy it. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Mercury blast a dead grimm in the head with his boots and immediately knew he felt the same. If he was good for anything, it was for working out frustrations on. They looked at each other, and Mercury wet his lips.

“I-…“ Yang began, throat dry, quickly concocting an excuse for them to wonder off and ‘secure the area’.

“We have to get inside before it gets dark,” Ruby said at the same time. “It’s too dangerous! If Weiss hadn’t been high up enough to see them coming…” and she shuddered audibly. “We stick together.”

Yang sighed.

\-- 

Rain hammered against the ruined roof and Yang lay on her back in her sleeping bag, staring up at the water stained ceiling, shifting uncomfortably. She had never missed her own room so much; not the one at Beacon, but at home a million miles away. Her own, private room…

The frustration must have been getting to her, because she didn’t notice him approach until he filled her vision, leaning over her with his trademark cocky smirk.

“Told you we should have ignored them,” he said. Yang stuck her middle finger up at him and rolled over, at least until he set down his sleeping bag beside her. Then she turned her head back and glared daggers.

“Just because we fucked,” she whispered so quietly it was practically a breath, “doesn’t mean I want to cuddle.”

Mercury rolled his eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself, blondie.” He lay on his side and faced the back of her head until she relented and turned around fully, lying adjacent to him.

“What do you want?”

“I think you’ve got a good idea.”

Yang snorted. “Not going to happen.”

He sighed dramatically and rolled onto his back. 

The place they had settled in for the night was the size of an assembly hall, and maybe that was what it had been once before the grimm sent it into disrepair. It was dark; the only light they had came from stars through holes in the wall, for the temperature was slowly on the rise, and a fire would only attract negative attention. On the other side of the room sat Blake and Weiss, and she assumed they were talking, but over the rain it was impossible to hear. Not far from them lay Emerald asleep in her sleeping bag after having swapped places with Ruby, who had moved upstairs to be on watch for the next few hours.

Mercury shifted under his own sleeping bag. The fact that he had stayed beside her told her he had something else up his sleeve, and the fact that he had to have a plan severely tempted her, but it was still too much of a risk. All it would take was for one of them to turn around or wake up and they’d be caught, and Yang would have to explain much more than she was actually capable of explaining. 

On the other hand, risks were kind of her thing… 

No. There was no way.

Mercury sighed again beside her, but it was a different kind of sigh; low and satisfied. 

“Are you _jerking-off_?” she asked in a whisper so scandalised it would have made Weiss proud. 

He opened one eye and looked at her, smug. “Well, if you’re not going to help me…” 

With one hand he adjusted his sleeping bag enough so that Yang could make out what was happening beneath. He stroked his cock leisurely with the other, less to pleasure himself and more to tease her, she thought. It was the first time she had ever actually looked at it, and… she had seen a few dicks in her time – well, not _that_ many, but enough – so she could safely say it was… nice. As usual, she hated herself for thinking anything positive about him. Especially since he was being such an asshole. 

He sped up and closed his eyes again, leaving the sleeping bag open. Yang checked on Blake and Weiss; still they were lost in their conversation, and she really wished they weren’t so that there was no way she could make yet another terrible decision. 

Then he moaned. She slammed her hand over his mouth. 

“ _Do you really need that much attention?_ ” she hissed, feeling his grin on her palm. 

“Don’t tell me you haven’t been thinking about this all day,” came his muffled response as he inched closer. “If you’re quiet they won’t know…” 

“If _I’m_ quiet?” she turned her back on him and pulled her panties down just enough, then lifted her mini skirt. Behind her she could feel him still. He wasn’t expecting that. Good. The last thing she wanted was to be predictable. “You’re the one who can’t shut up.” 

“You should wear that more often,” he said, closing the distance between them and pressing his cock between her legs. He reached down and pinged the straps of her suspenders against her thigh. 

__“I don’t dress for you.” She held his cock and slipped it inside of her, keeping her gaze on her teammates the entire time. Her heartbeat made it difficult for her to hear whether or not the sleeping bags were making too much noise. All she could do was trust that the rain and conversation was enough to keep them from noticing._ _

“It was just a friendly suggestion.” The smirk in his voice was evident as he slowly rocked into her. She was surprised how worked up she was already. One arm slipped beneath her and began to unbutton her shirt as she grabbed hold of his hip to keep him at the pace she wanted. His hand slid up under her bra and cupped her breast and squeezed roughly, because of course by now he knew exactly what she wanted. 

She bucked her hips into him and tilted her head back, biting her lip to keep back the groan threatening to escape. Apparently he had not forgotten her comment about which of them was the nosiest and had taken it as a challenge; he moved her hair off of her shoulder and bit into her skin, making her yelp aloud. 

They slowed down, both pairs of eyes set on their teammates. 

“Keep going,” she whispered. 

He didn’t need telling twice. He kept it slow, perhaps less interested in getting her caught than she would have expected, and she became aware of how tightly he was holding her; his chest pressed into her back, the hand not squeezing her breast wrapped around her stomach and holding her beneath her hip. His lips pressed against the crook of her neck where she could feel his breaths in short, desperate rasps. It was bizarrely intimate – perhaps more so than she would normally be comfortable with – but the restrictions were somehow turning her on more; the fact that they had to go so slowly when all she wanted to do was fuck him into the floor. 

There was a heart-stopping moment where she wondered whether or not he was enjoying it for the same reason. Did Mercury actually _enjoy_ sex so slow? But those fears were alleviated when he grabbed her ass hard enough to bruise and shoved into her rougher, impatiently. Yang grinned and encouraged him, reaching back and pushing his hips into hers harder; they needed to hurry up, she told herself, and this was the quickest way. 

Unfortunately it made it far more difficult to keep quiet. The rain carried on above without threat of stopping, but there would have been no disguising the noises coming from their mouths if Mercury hadn’t had the bright idea of putting his fingers in hers and burying his face in her neck once more. He thrusted faster, panting and breathless, and it was _exactly_ what Yang needed. She was so close… 

“Yang?” a voice called from across the room. “Are you awake?” 

They froze. 

Mercury took his fingers out of her mouth, and she took a deep breath to steady her voice. 

“Well, I am _now_ ,” she called back, very aware of Mercury inside of her. Weiss was looking at her directly, but it was so dark that she couldn’t quite distinguish the shape immediately behind. Or at least, if she had they would have heard about it by now. _Don’t turn around, Blake, please…_ but she was already a few steps ahead, making her way up the stairs. 

“Well, sorry!” Weiss countered. “We’re going to keep Ruby company. Are you coming?” 

Mercury moved inside her slowly, rhythmically, and Yang had to swallow her shocked gasp. 

“No!” she said quickly. “I finally… got comfortable. See you guys later.” 

Before Weiss was even fully out of sight, Mercury was spinning her onto her back and fucking her in earnest. She pulled his mouth down to hers. 

“I’m going to kill you,” and her lips brushed against his as she spoke. 

“You love it.” 

She did. Her orgasm was so sudden she had no time to censor herself; she practically screamed until Mercury closed the distance between their mouths and cut off the sound. Not a second later he emptied himself with a similarly muffled shout and lost the strength in his arms, buckling and collapsing on top of her. 

“I’m going to kill you,” she repeated between panting breaths, but she felt euphoric, and she knew the grin on her face gave her away. 

Mercury _laughed_ – she had never heard that before, not without cruelty behind it – and in his own state of exhilaration he pressed his lips against her forehead and _froze_. 

There hadn’t been any time for her to regulate her breathing, so when Mercury finally realised there was no backing out of what he had done he pulled himself up and stared at her she was still breathless, and his expression was unreadable. If Emerald hadn’t spoke, she wasn’t sure either of them would have found the courage to. 

“You realise _I’m still here?_ ” 

Ah, shit. 

\-- 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~feelings~


	5. Chapter 5

Emerald cornered him at breakfast.

“I’m telling them,” was the conversation starter as she sat down across from him on the concrete. “I can’t take it anymore. You two are disgusting, and if I ever have to see your pasty ass again I’m honestly going to throw up. On you.”

Mercury grinned.

“Oh, Em. Sweet, innocent Em-”

“- I will beat you to within an inch of your-”

“- You know there’s only two ways that could go.” He finished off his breakfast bar and counted on his fingers. “Number one: nobody cares, me and Blondie get to continue, and we don’t have to worry about being discrete.”

“You call this discrete?” she asked, incredulous. 

“Number two,” he continued, holding his fingers up high. “All hell breaks loose, and we’re no longer welcome here. Then how are you going to ‘save the world’?”

She punched him in the arm.

“I’m not trying to ‘save the world’, you little shit. I don’t want to die; I want revenge. And you know as well as I do that we aren’t getting it without them.” 

Well, she wasn’t wrong. 

Emerald frowned and sipped from her flask, still bristling from his hurtful accusation. “Besides, don’t accuse me of getting mushy over this. You’re the one that likes them,” and she nodded her head to the team sat laughing over their own breakfast.

“ _Me_?” he asked. “Who was the one giving Ruby a pep-talk?” Again Emerald scowled, but this time there was a hint of embarrassment tinting her expression. “What, did you think I didn’t hear that?”

“Do you think I didn’t see you kiss Yang?” she countered, fast.

“You’ve caught us doing a _lot_ worse…” he grinned.

“I mean last night,” Emerald said, wiping that grin away in an instant. Mercury snapped his jaw shut. Great. 

Alright, the forehead thing had been a little weird.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Blake rise to her feet. He turned properly to watch Yang follow suit, but not before stretching her arms out over her head and pushing out her chest, making a noise somewhere between a yawn and a contented sigh. She had no idea Mercury was watching, and definitely had no idea how hard he was working to keep his face straight in front of Emerald. 

Emerald raised her eyebrows at him.

\-- 

“Sooo, what’s up?” Yang asked cheerfully when they reached the top of the stairs. 

She felt a little bad for subjecting Emerald to her sex life (again), but otherwise she was in a great mood. Honestly, it was kind of her own fault for moving around so quietly anyway; apparently being a master thief did have some downsides. She actually didn’t dislike Emerald, either – at least, she didn’t only see the bad in her anymore - so she figured she ought to apologise and maybe not take quite so many risks the next time she was too horny to sleep. Maybe she could catch her while everyone was packing up.

“I don’t know how to bring this up,” Blake said. Yang blinked.

“Uhh…” That seemed a lot more serious than what she was expecting, although what she was expecting she couldn’t say. Her mind had been pretty occupied all morning. “Blake, what’s wrong?”

Blake rubbed the back of her neck, and said all at once:

“Are you sleeping with Mercury?”

 _Ah, shit_ , was a phrase Yang had been thinking a lot lately.

She blinked again, slowly, then shook her head rapidly in an attempt to loosen some idea inside that would help her to stop the situation from happening. There had to be something she could say, something she could do, some way she could deflect the question…

Her decided response was: “I-… what?”

“Let me rephrase. How long have you been sleeping with Mercury? Because I was pretty sure when I caught him whispering to you when we'd just missed Cinder in that village before you both disappeared, but I was definitely sure that time he came back from a run with love bites when you were out searching for food. Unless you want to say there’s a grimm that does that now.”

“Uhh…”

“But _before_ you say that, please remember that I _am_ a faunus. And while I might have been determinedly _not_ facing you all last night, I do have peripheral vision, and it was impossible to ignore the fact that _something_ was happening under those sleeping bags. And if you are about to blame the long day affecting my eyesight, or say that you two were fighting…”

Yang closed her mouth into a pout. Blake looked at her expectantly, awaiting her confession. 

“… Do Ruby and Weiss know?” she asked, defeated.

Blake shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea. You haven’t exactly been discrete.”

“Uhh, if you only noticed in the village, then we have been _very_ discrete.” 

Blake’s eyes widened for just a moment before narrowing into slits as she stared at Yang so hard she swore she could feel it bearing into her soul.

“How long?” she asked. It wasn’t an angry ask, and that’s what made Yang deflate and come clean.

“It… uh. Well, we were sparring about a week before the double’s round…” 

“You slept with him before the tournament and decided to _continue_ after everything they did?” Blake’s voice was a high-pitched whisper, and Yang was beginning to wish somebody would come upstairs and tell them it was time to go, because she needed time to think of a way to even begin to explain what was going on. Maybe to herself first.

“Not straight away!” she said, as if it made it better. She sighed. “When you went to the White Fang base…”

“I _knew_ it!”

“It wasn’t on purpose!”

She watched as Blake took a deep intake of breath, preparing to say something big, before shaking her head and deciding against it. Then, she fixed her with a look, and Yang groaned.

“Oh, come on. Don’t give me judgement eyes.”

“These aren’t judgement eyes! These are concerned eyes!” and her expression did soften somewhat, but somehow that was even worse. “Do you like him? Or…”

“Or. Definitely or,” she interjected. 

“Are you sure? Because one time you couldn’t tell the difference between hungry and tired and ate until you threw up out our dormitory window.”

“ _Definitely or_ , Blake. It’s just a… thing.”

Yang held her face steady as Blake studied it, searching her for some sort of giveaway, but whatever she was looking for she didn’t find. Eventually she gave up and swore not to tell the rest of the team (though she worded it so that it heavily implied Yang should tell them herself), and Yang felt a weird guilt deep in her core as she watched her descend the stairs.

Had she lied to her?

\--


	6. Chapter 6

Yang had little time to reflect on her feelings, because one week later they knew where Cinder was.

They knew they were close when they reached the farmhouse and found it alive with flames, crackling and collapsing behind the corpses of the two middle aged hunters who were probably the parents of the potential Maiden that lived there. 

That information had come from a village on the edge of the residential district. An old innkeeper knew Perri Hyacinth and pointed them in the right direction, and had marvelled that so many had been interested in the unassuming fifteen year old that day. That raised alarm bells. 

The sky was clouded with a billowing sheet of black, and before they had even arrived Yang knew they were too late. 

“Cinder’s close,” Emerald said after the moment’s silence upon seeing the gruesomely burned bodies in the field. “If we don’t move now, we’ll lose her.”

“What about Perri?” Ruby asked. Her voice was heavy with emotion, but not as much as it had been six months ago when they had first set out. These were not the first bodies they had found on Cinder’s trail.

A massive beam creaked dangerously before falling loose and bringing down the roof of the house, spraying them with sparks and embers. 

“She could still be inside,” Blake said. Mercury practically hissed at the hidden suggestion.

“Don’t be stupid,” he warned. 

“We have to be sure.” Yang looked at her sister, who gave a firm nod. 

But before Ruby could yell any instructions Emerald and Mercury shot off, racing into the forest and quickly disappearing from sight. 

“Dammit!” Weiss yelled, but she grabbed Ruby’s arm before she could chase them down. “We don’t have time! If Perri’s alive in there…”

And she was right. Yang clenched her fists and glared at the path through the trees, but whatever anger was threatening to bubble over would have to wait. Ruby took a deep breath and turned back to the building, steeling herself before commanding:

“Weiss! Freeze us a path in!”

\--

It took them an hour to search the place from top to bottom on every floor, in every cupboard, under every bed… by the time they were done, the four of them were burned, bruised, and coated in thick layers of ash and grime. 

Perri was nowhere to be found. Either her parents had somehow foresaw what was coming, or Cinder had taken her, but all that mattered to Yang was that they had wasted an hour and now they were two members down and further away from finishing the mission that had completely taken over their lives.

“Emerald!” Ruby yelled as they reached the forest. “Mercury!”

“She could have been in there,” Blake said, sensing Yang’s frustration and touching her shoulder gently. 

Yang shook her head. Hopefully Blake would understand that it meant she didn’t want to talk, and not that she disagreed. If Yang spoke, she was pretty sure she would scream.

“Emerald! Mercury!”

Had they tricked them all along? Were they walking into a trap? Yang kept her eyes peeled, but the forest was dense, and in an hour they could have gone anywhere. They should never have taken them out of their handcuffs. They were too reckless – and that was coming from Yang.

Were they already dead? If they had found Cinder, they had little chance of defeating her. The thought of finding their companion’s bodies on a footpath somewhere made her sick to her stomach, no matter how much anger she felt towards them in that moment.

“There’s no more smoke,” Blake said after a while, as if reading Yang’s mind. “If they’d found her, there would have been a fight. Half the forest would be gone.”

 _Unless they’d been betrayed._

“Emerald! Mercury! Can you hear me?”

“Over here!” 

They rushed towards the sound of Emerald’s voice and found them, completely unharmed, walking towards them at a leisurely pace, as if they’d only been for a walk instead of sprinting after a murderous sorceress. It pushed her over the edge.

Yang grabbed Mercury by his shirt and lifted him off his feet.

“Are you two out of your minds?” she yelled in his face, then threw him to the ground before he even had the chance to retaliate and turned to Emerald, who stepped backwards and pulled out her revolvers in half a second.

“Woah, stop!” Ruby jumped in between them, holding out her arms in preparation to catch whoever moved first.

“They could have ruined everything!” 

“They didn’t!”

Were her eyes red? She wasn’t sure, but she was vibrating with rage, and she could hardly even understand why. Ruby was right: nobody was hurt, but it had been a long day, and they could have been hurt, and she was tired.

“We know where she went,” Emerald said, steadily. She kept her weapons up and her eyes on Yang’s face. Mercury dusted the dirt from his pants and rose, glaring daggers in Yang’s direction but wisely keeping his distance. “We saw her.”

“You could have _died_ ,” Yang spat through gritted teeth. 

“We followed her all the way to the industrial district,” Emerald continued, ignoring the interjection. “There’s a warehouse. She’s probably hiding out there.”

“Was she alone?” Blake asked.

“No. She had the girl.”

“Did she see you?” Weiss asked. 

“She would have killed us if she had,” she said confidently.

The tension weighed down the air, and Yang couldn’t calm down like she knew she should. One part of her wanted to carry on north immediately and end it, but a smaller, more sensible part reminded her how exhausted she was, and how useless she would be against a Maiden if they didn’t stop to rest.

Her realisation must have shown, because Emerald returned her revolvers to her holsters and Ruby stood down, sighing with relief. Yang glared at the floor.

“We’re closer than we’ve ever been before,” Ruby said, glancing at each of them as she spoke. “We have to do this right. We _have_ to rest if we want to win this…”

“Gonna clear my head,” Yang mumbled, and she walked off alone through the trees.

\--

She sat down at the river bank and scowled at nothing.

They’d been too late. They’d been too close. They _were_ too close. She was mad that they were wrong to search the house, that their good deed had wasted time. She was mad at Mercury and Emerald for running off. She was mad that she was mad and couldn’t stop being mad. Most of all, she was scared.

“The fuck was that?” Mercury said somewhere behind her before she had even heard his footsteps over her thoughts. Yang clenched her teeth and didn’t respond.

“Hey,” he said, and his voice was taut with anger too. “Blondie.”

He grabbed the back of her jacket and pulled her to her feet. In a flash she turned to face him and threw her fist into his shoulder. The hit surprised him, but not for long; he swung out his leg and slammed it into her side, knocking her off her feet.

Yang scrambled for purchase in the dirt and launched herself at him, aiming for his face, and for his chest, and for anything she could punch and hurt. His foot connected with her head and the pain burned her skin worse than the embers from the farmhouse. 

“We did you a favour!” Mercury grunted out as they fought, clumsy and tired after the endlessly long day.

“It could have been a trap!” Yang yelled back. She only just managed to duck under his next kick, but it gave her space to punch him hard in the stomach. “It could have got us all killed.”

As Mercury reeled she took him down to the floor and tore down the zip of his jacket with the same ferocity with which she had hit him, and he lifted his arms above his head to give her better access without pause for thought. It caught on his armour and she ripped it free, tearing the fabric. 

She sunk her teeth into his chest and he tangled his fist in her hair just to hold on to her. Then he rolled her onto her back and pinned her down beneath his hips, treating her with the same care she had shown him, popping the buttons on her jacket and tossing it to the side once it was free. 

Undressing was part of the fight; rough, fast, and thoughtless. They’d fucked countless times in the past six months and they’d never seen each other _naked_ , but right then it felt like a necessity; she just needed skin. Soon she had it, and she scratched her nails through every piece she could as he did the same, and the pain was distracting and good.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Mercury groaned. He was above her, and his metal prosthetics were cold and sharp against the inside of her calves, and his cock pulsed against her thigh as he thrust aimlessly forwards, desperate for friction.

Yang shook as she took it in her hand and guided him so that he could shove roughly inside of her, so hard she had to grab fistfuls of dirt to keep herself still beneath him. Her moan came loud and needy, so much so that it shocked her, but Mercury was groaning too, and cursing under his breath with every thrust.

Her back arched as she lifted her hips to meet them enthusiastically so that it was harder and faster, and she couldn’t think of anything except how desperately she needed to come and how even this wasn’t enough.

“More,” was the only thing she could articulate as she pushed herself up onto her elbows, gasping, and as she looked at him she saw his hair was damp from the exertion, and his eyes were screwed closed in concentration. When she spoke they snapped open, and he crossed his arms behind her back and pulled her up and sat back on his knees, pulling her into his lap. 

She was very aware that her moans had transformed into noises closer to screams, and though something in the back of her mind told her she should be quiet she could hardly hear the thought over the blood pounding in her ears. She could feel her stomach against his, her breasts against his chest, one arm wrapped around her back to support her as hers reached for his neck and jaw, not to choke him this time but to bring his face up to hers so that she could crush their lips together as she came, suddenly, so hard that she felt all her energy drain with it.

Mercury wasn’t far behind. It was good that he could hold her up because she wasn’t sure she could support her own weight and move with him until he was finished, and when he came it was like burning inside her.

With a heavy sigh her head lolled down to his shoulder and rested there as she caught her breath. Mercury’s arms remained interlocked behind her back for a long time, and she realised that they were technically hugging, which was definitely not something that had ever happened before. 

It was late May and warm, but the sun was slowly setting, and the sweat was cooling on her skin and made her shiver.

“Are you…?” Mercury began, speaking very quietly.

“Yeah,” Yang finished. Whether he was going to ask her if she was cold, or okay, or feeling better, or whatever, the answer to all was yes, and hearing him say something with any kind of concern in his voice felt weird.

“You’re crushing my legs,” he said instead, smirking. She shoved his shoulder for the bad joke and climbed off of him, and it took her a moment to steady herself. _Well, that hurt_. Everything ached; it was actually a little difficult to put one foot in front of the other, and she couldn’t look back at Mercury because she knew he would be grinning at what he would see as an achievement.

Instead she focused on finding her clothes, which they had by some miracle thrown away from the river instead of into it (she was certain neither of them had had the presence of mind to do that on purpose). It was a struggle to get them back on, and she was very aware of Mercury’s eyes on her back the entire time.

So, she didn’t hate him. That was already obvious, though she had never really thought on it before. And now she knew she didn’t want him dead. Well, she supposed that too was obvious, even expected, after six months of travelling together. She’d worried about him… that was new, but again, was it that weird? She’d worried about Emerald, too. So, she guessed they were all friends now.

It didn’t mean she forgave him. There was nothing that could make her forget how tortured she had been doubting her own sanity over his stupid move, or how he had hurt Ruby, and what he had helped do to Penny. But it took a back seat in her mind, now, behind everything else that had happened since then. They lived in a messed up world; bad things happened every day, and whatever Mercury’s reasoning was, right now they were on the same side.

Whether that would still be the same once Cinder was dead…

“… You ripped my jacket,” he said, of course entirely oblivious to her thoughts. She turned around and saw him twisting it around in his hands. One of the sleeves had been removed completely, and still lay tattered beneath his rerebrace; the other hung on by a thread.

“Just say you took it off when we fought. I mean, it is hot.” 

“That’s not really going to explain…” and he gestured to the bites visible from his neck to his chest. Yang cringed. She was tempted to convince him to say it was Emerald, but she was pretty sure she would actually kill her for it while she slept. So she shrugged her shoulders.

“Whatever. Blake knows. Nobody else is going to bring it up tonight.”

Mercury cocked an eyebrow at the revelation, and perhaps had more complaints to make about her treatment of his clothing, but Yang was already half way up the footpath and making her way back to camp. Now that she could think again, she needed to spend some time with her team. They needed to talk, to come up with a plan, and to comfort each other like they always did when something big was about to happen.

And tomorrow would be the biggest thing that had ever happened, to them, at least. Tomorrow would be the end. 

\--


	7. Chapter 7

To say that sleep had been difficult was an understatement - Mercury wasn’t even sure if he had slept, exhausted though he was, and as he lay on his back hopelessly and glanced around the camp he could tell he was far from the only one. Unlike the others, it wasn’t nerves that kept him awake – it was excitement.

It was early morning when they finally gave up trying and set off for the warehouse. Cinder could already have left, but for some reason he felt weirdly certain that she would still be there. Why she had stopped in the first place was what puzzled him and worried Emerald. They had heard Perri’s screams before they saw her; she was not a willing guest, but surely it would have been easier (and much more like her) to kill her than to drag her around - it’s what he would have done, at least. Cinder wanted her for something, and that they didn’t know what complicated things.

Weiss had been glaring at him for a full hour before Mercury finally shook off his thoughts and turned to her, raising an eyebrow. It was getting pretty distracting.

“Something wrong?” he asked sarcastically, tilting his head when he met her narrowed eyes. The heiress was bristling, indignant, and he had a pretty good idea why.

Returning to the camp that had been set up in their absence might have been a little awkward for everyone else. Emerald took one glance at his bare, beaten chest and buried her face in her hands in pure despair, and Blake’s usually steady face was betrayed when her eyebrows shot up into her hairline. Weiss’s jaw dropped in horror, and even Ruby seemed to understand as she took in their reappearance with widened eyes. He pulled on a clean t-shirt from his rucksack pretty quickly, just to get those eyes off of him.

Fortunately (for Yang), none of them needed to ask what they had been up to down by the river, and Yang had pretended not to notice their shocked expressions and launched straight into a tactics talk, which at the very least distracted Ruby and interrupted anyone who had considered making a comment.

Unfortunately, tactics talk was now over. Now it was time to put those plans into action. But first…

“I know what you did.”

Her tone was so accusatory that Mercury actually snorted, which didn’t help matters.

“Don’t you mean _who_ I-“

“Ugh!” Weiss interrupted. “Never mind. You’re perfect for each other.” 

In half a second he came up with a thousand witty retorts that he never had the chance to use, because in the next, before he could even open his mouth, a savage blast of wind picked him up off of his feet and flung him across the sky.

\--

“Mercury!” Emerald had yelled before Yang had even realised what was happening. She whipped around and saw him hurtling through the air in a haze of leaves until he collided with a tree hard enough to splinter it in two.

“No!” Ruby’s voice joined Emerald’s over the rushing sounds of a building gale that seemed to shake the earth beneath their feet. “You said she never saw you!”

“She didn’t!” Emerald insisted. The wind made it difficult to stay upright, but all five of them pushed against it, slowly forcing themselves to where Mercury lay. Emerald got there first and hoisted her partner up to his feet, and he seemed dazed, disorientated from the sudden blast, but quickly shook it off and stood unaided. 

“Ruby,” Yang turned to her sister, whose eyes were wide with worry. “What do we do?”

Ruby looked on ahead and chewed her lower lip as her thoughts flickered across her face. All the while the wind worsened, and the leaves were like razor blades slicing through towards them. Blake let out a surprised yelp as one cut at the skin of her stomach, and Yang shielded her eyes against them and searched the tree tops for any sign of their enemy; she wasn’t there, she was sure of it. 

“How far’s the range on Maiden powers?” she asked, though it was getting more and more difficult to hear over all the noise.

“If she had time to prepare…” Mercury trailed off and shared a look with Emerald that told Yang it was bad news.

“The warehouse isn’t far.”

“Push through!”

\-- 

Cinder stood atop of the roof, and she was so different from when they had last seen her. Before she was just a woman – a powerful, beautiful one, but still just human. Now she seemed alight with fire and magic that illuminated her skin; just a look at her struck Yang with the gnawing fear that they weren’t going to make it out of this one alive.

But then she looked at her sister whose face hadn’t faltered, who stood firm against the oncoming wind and looked the Maiden right in the eyes, and she took a deep breath and prepared herself for the fight that was nothing like the one they had planned, but then maybe they had a trick or two that could make a difference.

Cinder held the string of her bow taut against her cheek and smiled down at them.

“Did you really think I wasn’t waiting for this?” she asked, tone soft and mocking. Despite their distance, she didn’t need to shout; they could hear her clearly above the wind - even her light laugh.

“Emerald, Mercury… I suppose I was wrong.” At that Yang glanced at Mercury stood beside her. His jaw was tense, his brows were low, and for the first time she realised just how betrayed he had been when she abandoned them at Beacon. “There was still some use left in you. Now tell me. Which one is it?”

Emerald’s face was set in focus as Ruby moved on ahead, but Cinder didn’t bat an eyelid. Her eyes were on her former minions, and her smile worsened more and more as their tight-lipped silence went on.

“What are you talking about?” Blake eventually asked, because they couldn’t move through the wind and there was nothing else to do.

“Oh?” Cinder’s eyebrows raised for a moment in surprise, though she seemed somewhat pleased by the revelation. “You never told them?”

“Neither,” Mercury yelled over the din, and he was _lying_. Yang knew he was lying. What was he lying about? She looked at him with surprise herself, and he didn’t look back. Yang furrowed her brow.

Cinder grinned and shook her head, then notched her arrows and pulled her bowstring back further, preparing her shot. The wind made it impossible for Yang to hold her gauntlets steady, and her teammates struggled similarly, using all the energy they had just to stay on their feet.

“I see. Then I’ll just have to kill them all.”

With that her arrows lit with flames, and she released all three in an instant into the spot where Ruby had been stood just moments ago. Cinder’s eyes sparked as they thudded into the floor and she yelled out in rage, seeing through Emerald’s illusion too late. Just as she did, Ruby sped up the side of the warehouse and, with all of her strength, swung her scythe into Cinder and knocked her from her pedestal to the ground.

The effect was immediate: a sudden shock of silence took over the forest as the wind came to a standstill, though that was quickly broken by the sounds of loading and unsheathing, and a quiet, distant sobbing. It took little time for Cinder to recover and rise to her feet, still graceful despite the fall, and her burning eyes glazed over them, somehow cold beneath the fire. 

“I have Perri!” Ruby yelled down to them before disappearing from sight.

“Did you really think we didn’t have a plan?” Yang quipped, imitating Cinder’s patronising tone, because it was too good an opportunity to give up.

A ball of flames came towards her and she grinned, preparing her gauntlets for the hit… or would have, if Mercury hadn’t gotten there first. He swung his leg in an arch as if to kick the fireball away, only of course it didn’t work and singed a hole into the leg of his pants instead.

“What are you doing!?” 

Yang stared at him in complete disbelief. To think that anybody could ever think she needed protecting… she tried to shove him out the way but he bounced back, standing between her and Cinder with a look on his face that she could only describe as pained. 

“Mercury, _move_.”

Weiss and Blake took one look at the standoff and sprinted ahead to begin their own attacks on Cinder, and it pissed Yang off to think that they were probably dismissing it as an inappropriately timed lover’s quarrel instead of helping her get past. Fire and blades clashed, and the sound of gunfire roared on ahead.

Yang had to be there.

“One more chance. Move.” Yang said. 

She turned her gauntlets on Mercury, and he hovered, conflicted, between jumping to one side and staying exactly where he stood. Yang held her breath. She wouldn’t shoot him, and he had to have known that, but he clenched his fists and groaned in defeat anyway. 

“One of you is Summer.”

Just visible over Mercury’s shoulder Yang could see Emerald mirroring him and guarding Ruby and Perri from Cinder’s wild attacks, and Ruby didn’t even notice; she was too busy firing Crescent Rose whenever she could get a clean shot over Weiss and Blake’s frantic movements.

Yang closed her eyes. There wasn’t time to be surprised, or to think about what that news meant.

“She can’t have your power too.”

“She won’t,” Yang said, and she finally pushed him aside and ran into the fray.

\--

Amber Fall had been defeated by three. Cinder faced six, and those six hated her with every fibre of their being, and so even with all the fire, the wind, the physics breaking magic that she could conjure… she was still just one woman, and in the end she didn’t stand a chance.

Cinder’s aura shattered.

“Guess you should have kept some friends, huh?” Mercury grinned, but it was a savage grin, as if he relished in dragging Cinder’s arms behind her back and holding her helpless. Emerald, on the other hand, didn’t even crack a smile; her expression was guarded, and it was difficult to tell how she felt about defeating her former friend, but either way she helped Mercury to restrain the Maiden and looked to team RWBY, awaiting their next step.

Yang had never killed anybody before, and she didn’t want to - not even Mercury all that time ago at Beacon. Not even Cinder. But for the past six months they had debated and they knew there was no other choice. Even if they did decide to imprison her for the rest of her days, where would they take her? All of Remnant was still at war, and nowhere was safe - she would be out in days, and even if she died in prison, they had no control over who her powers would be given to. The only way to have any input in the matter was to…

Mercury was itching to do it, but it was Blake who struck the final blow. With little ceremony she plunged her sword deep into Cinder’s chest, and Cinder died.

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with this! :D


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter now! This has been a bit chaotic, but I'm glad so many of you have commented and left kudos. I really appreciate it since this was just some dumb thing I was writing out of desperation for SOME kickboxing content!

“Why did you convince them to take me, too?”

Despite their victory, their walk home was quiet and sombre. Apparently it was difficult to celebrate the death of even an all-powerful mega-bitch when a young girl had been forced to use her aura-tracking semblance to create a trap for the people coming to rescue her, all hours after watching her parents die. Mercury thought things like that happened every day, and found it ridiculous to get upset over it, but if his time with team RWBY taught him anything it was that it was less hassle for him to just let them get on with their grieving and to keep his thoughts to himself.

It had been a few days since they had said goodbye to Perri, and it wouldn’t be long until they returned to Beacon. Maybe that this chapter in their lives would soon be over was why he finally decided to push for an answer.

Emerald slowed her pace and looked up at him curiously; she was trying to find words that weren’t too serious, or too sappy, and probably ones that weren’t too honest, if he knew her as well as he thought he did.

“Cinder was good at picking up desperate people who needed validation. I know what you went through. I know what I went through. Neither of us had many options, exactly – we could only do what we were good at.” Emerald furrowed her brow and paused for thought. “At least, I thought we didn’t. If Ruby was willing to give me a chance, then I thought we should at least extend that same chance to you and give you a choice.”

“Some choice,” Mercury snorted. “Come with us or we’ll kill you.”

“We lost the handcuffs two months in and you stayed, so don’t give me that crap.”

“Touché,” he agreed. Then, after some thought of his own: “Thanks.”

Up ahead, team RWBY walked side by side. Now two of them were Maidens, but none of them were talking about it, and after all the trouble Maidens and magic had caused all of them, he didn’t really blame them, either. But he did kind of wish Yang would stop ignoring him. If there was one thing Mercury couldn’t stand, it was being ignored.

\--

“I can’t believe we’re nearly home,” Blake said, quietly. There was a general buzz of agreement between the team; gentle hums of acknowledgement, but no real words. There had been very few of them altogether for the last few days.

Yang really _couldn’t_ believe they were nearly home after everything they had been through. In retrospect, six months wasn’t all that much time to be away, but it felt like years and she felt older - they all were. It was a sad kind of feeling, because there was never going to be any going back to how they were before the fall of Beacon, before the war. 

She hadn’t told the team about Summer. Hypocritically she was still furious at Mercury for withholding that information from them, but she had a real reason for doing so: right now, when they couldn’t even talk about Fall, just wasn’t the time. That she was ignoring him was becoming increasingly obvious, however, and eventually Ruby hung back and looked at Yang pointedly, encouraging her to walk alongside her and talk, and Weiss and Blake moved on, letting them.

“What did he do?” Ruby asked. It was the first time she had even acknowledged their relationship, and that she didn’t ask any unnecessary questions about the nature of it or how it had come about was why she loved her so much. She always seemed to know when it was better to leave something alone and when it was time to intervene. Ruby was a lot more mature than people gave her credit for.

Unfortunately, Yang had no answer to give her. She glanced over her shoulder at Mercury and Emerald trailing behind and shrugged.

“Did he hurt you?” she asked again, all serious with furrowed brows, and Yang snickered and ruffled her sister’s hair.

“No. Kind of the opposite,” Yang said. “He kept standing in the way.”

Ruby pulled a face. “No offence, but that’s a really dumb reason to be mad.”

“It’s complicated,” Yang sighed, and they left it at that.

It was actually kind of nice to be able to talk about something so trivial without feeling guilt rising in her chest for not focusing on Cinder, even if it was a subject she wasn’t very good at explaining. There was a different kind of guilt, though, knowing that she had kept it from Ruby for so long, because her little sister was her best friend. She should have known she wouldn’t judge from the start.

“He’s not as bad as he was,” Ruby said after a long silence. Yang raised an eyebrow. “I mean… he isn’t nice, but now I think he has it in him. To be decent. When Em said to get him too, I was… uh…”

“Reluctant?” Yang smirked.

“Yeaaah… but I’m glad we gave him a chance, too. Everyone deserves a chance to make up for what they’ve done, right?”

Yang sighed again. It was so like Ruby to simplify things so concisely; if she had had the mind to, she bet she would have managed to convince them to leave Cinder alive, too. And she wasn’t wrong, exactly – everyone deserved a chance, but things weren’t always that easy, and a chance to do good was not the same as making up for past mistakes.

\--

The docks were in sight. It was so strange to see them again, like the first day of school.

It was time to say goodbye.

Mercury caught her eye and nodded his head towards the trees as they took a break before the final stretch. It had been five days since they had killed Cinder, and they were five long days of thought, so after a moment she followed him, and thought she saw him breathe a sigh of relief.

When they were out of earshot they stopped and stood and looked at each other a little awkwardly. Yang folded her arms across her chest, and Mercury tucked his hands into his pockets. She had thought a lot about what to say to him, but now nothing would come; it really was like being in school again, hesitating around some dumb childish crush.

“We should have told you,” he said, and wow – an admission of guilt was something new from him, and she had no idea how to respond. She blinked her eyes and peered at him searchingly to figure out whether he was being sincere, but his moment of humanity vanished, and he moved onto his next subject.

“We’re going to see if we can wipe out the Black Queen Virus.”

Yang tilted her head as she looked up at him, curiously. 

“You want to get the CCT back up?” she asked. Everything had been so badly damaged in the battle she hadn’t been able to contact her friends or family since they had left.

Mercury shrugged and nodded at the same time, and Yang narrowed her eyes.

“Why?” she asked suspiciously, because Mercury did nothing unless it benefited him.

“I kinda miss the internet,” he said, and Yang snorted. “Plus, how else am I going to call you?”

She felt her eyebrows raise at the unexpected comment, and then she cringed and couldn’t help but to laugh. What a line! Beneath it, though, she felt as if he had just confessed something, like he actually wanted to be around her for reasons beyond convenience and circumstance. Surprisingly, despite how infuriating he was, despite his many negative points, she found that feeling to be mutual. 

“Who says I want you to call me?” she asked, coyly.

Mercury took a step forward and smirked down at her, backing her into the trunk of a tree. His hands found their way to her hips where they rested, and she leant up into the kiss he teased, where he held back his head just enough to force her to make the first move.

She realised how much she would miss him. 

\--

Their goodbye in front of their friends was much less physical. Though they all knew about it, it was still weird to show any attraction or affection in front of them – at least purposely – and so Yang settled for a fist bump for both him and Emerald, which they accepted with some amusement.

Out of the window of the airship to Beacon she saw their dots shrink rapidly in the distance. It would likely be a long time until she saw them again: both groups had a lot of things to do, things to catch up on, powers to learn to control… and they had people to find, and friends to reconnect with, and most of all they still had a job to do. Nevertheless, Yang was certain they would be seeing each other soon… and she could hardly wait.

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3


End file.
